Her Favorite
by keeptheotherone
Summary: "I was her favorite ... Not Albus … he didn't want to be bothered with her. She liked me best." Ariana learns the difference between brothers and friends. Second Place in the Best Friends Competition hosted by a-trip-to-honeydukes. Edited 2/2012.


Her Favorite

Aberforth entered the kitchen, still tucking in his shirttails.

"Ariana, please." His mother pleaded. "You hardly ate at all yesterday, and I know you like them. Please, just one bite?" Kendra waved the forkful of egg temptingly in front of her daughter, but Ariana batted it away.

"Eggs and bacon, sis," Aberforth said, loading up his own plate. "It's your favorite breakfast."

"I'm not hungry."

"I bet you are." Aberforth sat down beside his sister and put his ear to her belly. "Feeeeed meeee," he squeaked in an unnaturally high voice, and eight-year-old Ariana giggled. "Feeeeed me now, pleeeease. See? I bet your stomach would be really upset if it heard Mum offered you eggs, and you didn't eat them."

Ariana considered him thoughtfully. Aberforth took a bite of his own breakfast and chewed with exaggerated enjoyment. She giggled again and took the loaded fork from her mother.

()()()()

Ariana sat in the floor folding the doll clothes her mother had washed for her. Ariana had been hesitant to give them up, but Mummy had convinced her when she promised to return them in time for tea. Ariana was separating the play clothes from the fancy clothes so her dollies could get dressed as soon as they woke from their naps. She glanced across the room where they lay under one of her old cotton baby blankets. Nope, still sleeping.

Ariana smoothed down the lace collar of one dress before putting it in the fancy pile. Albus was home. He had smiled and hugged her when he arrived last night, but his nose had been buried in a book all day. Albus had always liked to read, and it seemed his first year at Hogwarts hadn't changed that.

She missed him. Albus didn't pay much attention to her, not like Aberforth did, but sometimes, if she was very quiet, he would read to her. She didn't like the books he read (they were boring), but she liked his voice. It was steady and calm, and when she cuddled next to him and put her ear against his chest, it purred.

She was having a 'speriment today. That's what Albus said his book was about, 'speriments. He told Mummy about a 'speriment they did at school to see what kind of food plants like best. Silly boy, plants like water and sunshine.

But her 'speriment wasn't about plants; it was about friends. She knew Albus and Aberforth were both her brothers, but what she wanted to know was if they were both her friends. Brothers didn't want to be bothered by pesky little sisters, but friends liked to do things together. So after lunch, when Albus didn't speak to anyone and Aberforth teased her about how much her stomach liked carrots, she came up to her room. No one had come looking for her yet, but that was all right. She had put her dollies down for their naps, and then Mummy brought in their clean clothes. She glanced across the room again. Nope, still sleeping.

Ariana placed the last jumper on the play clothes pile. She used to practice moving things around in her dollhouse without touching them, but she didn't like to use magic anymore. She got up to put the doll clothes away.

"Ariana?"

She turned. Aberforth was standing in the doorway to her bedroom.

"Do you want to help me feed the goats?"

She smiled and nodded. She could put the clothes away later. "Yes, please."

She had known Aberforth would come. Because sometimes you put walls up not to keep other people out, but to see who cares enough to break them down.

()()()()

a/n: Written for the Best Friends Competition hosted by a-trip-to-honeydukes for the pairing of Aberforth and Ariana Dumbledore with the quote "sometimes you put walls up not to keep other people out, but to see who cares enough to break them down." I got lucky; I think this quote fits them very well :) Special thanks to my beta vancabreuniter, who kept me from embarrassing myself. And if anyone knows of a **good holiday challenge **(that's not due in November), please PM me!

The quote from the summary is from the Bloomsbury children's hardback edition of _Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows_, Rowling, J. K. "The Missing Mirror," p. 455.


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